1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to an improved method for making hard candy containing fruit juice. The hard candy is prepared by admixing fruit juice with a cooked sugar syrup in the atmospheric chamber of a vacuum cooker to minimize contact time between the fruit juice and sugar syrup. Excess water is removed from the syrup mixture in the vacuum chamber and the syrup mixture is then cooled and formed into the desired shapes of hard candy.
This invention also pertains to an improved method for making hard candy containing an acidulant or a thermolabile component. The hard candy is prepared by admixing the acidulant or thermolabile component with a cooked sugar syrup in the atmospheric chamber of a vacuum cooker to minimize contact time between the acidulant and the sugar syrup, or the thermolabile component and the hot sugar syrup and cooker coil. This invention also pertains to hard candies prepared by the inventive methodsS.
2. Description of the Background
The preparation of confectionery formulations is historically well known and has changed little through the years. Confectionery items have been classified as either "hard" confectionery or "soft" confectionery. In general, a hard confectionery has a candy base composed of a mixture of sugar and other carbohydrate bulking agents kept in an amorphous or glassy condition. This candy base is considered a solid syrup of sugars generally containing up to about 92% corn syrup, up to about 55% sugar, and from about 0.1% to about 5% water, by weight. The syrup component is generally prepared from corn syrups high in fructose but may include other materials. Further ingredients such as flavoring agents, sweetening agents, acidifying agents and coloring agents may also be added. Confectionery formulations are routinely prepared by conventional methods such as those involving fire cookers, vacuum cookers, and scraped-surface cookers, also referred to as high speed atmospheric cookers.
A problem in the field of confectionery formulations is that there is no satisfactory method for preparing a hard candy made with relatively large amounts of fruit juice or other acidulants. Fruit juices are acidic and tend to cause inversion of the sugar syrup during the cooking process. When fruit juice is added to a sugar syrup after the cooking process, the resulting candy tends to be too moist. Similarly, there is no satisfactory method for preparing a hard candy made with relatively large amounts of a thermolabile component. Thermolabile components tend to burn on the hot surface of the cooker coil in a non-scrape surface cooker resulting in a plugged cooker.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,816, issued to Vink et al., discloses the preparation of a shelf stable hard candy glass containing natural fruit juice and fruit juice solids and having, on a dry weight basis, a moisture content of about 0.1% to 5%, a fruit solids contents of about 5% to 25%, and an added sugar component content of about 70.0% to 94.9%. Vink et al. buffers the sugar syrup to a pH of about 4 to 8, prior to cooking, to prevent inversion of the sugar by the fruit juice.
Thus, none of the known procedures for preparing hard candy containing fruit juice, acidulants, or thermolabile components is entirely satisfactory. Buffering the sugar syrup prior to cooking to prevent inversion of the sugar by the fruit juice or acidulant tends to alter the flavor of the fruit juice. Moreover, such methods may not be effective for use with very acidic juices or strong acidulants. The present invention provides an improved method for preparing hard candy containing fruit juice, acidulants, or thermolabile components.